"Really? What are her powers? Are they similar to yours brother?" Cyrus innocently asked, his curiosity peeking at the sound of such a divine lineage he's hearing about for the first time.

A confusion he shared with all the others, but unlike him who simply chalked it up to casual ignorance, they didn't, as each and every one of them was a well travelled man of great wisdom, age and experience, which would make it impossible to have never before heard of a family belonging to such a unique and mysterious Goddess, as by far she is the least of the many Gods who we as mortals know the least about.

Nizam too joined them in their confusion, despite his young age and far lesser degree of experience and practical knowledge of the world, his extensive literacy on numerous subjects, gained from devouring countless books of history, politics and other matters, bridged that gap between them.

Smiling in reply to my little brother's enthusiasm, I purposefully answer in a cryptic way, knowing how sensitive she is about the oddities of her divine abilities "In a manner of speaking; yes, her powers are akin to mine, though also very different and unique in their own right, like all those of the God blooded children in this world."

My words seemed to reignite the fire of ravenous curiosity inside Cyrus' body, as he quickly reopened his mouth, wanting bombard me again in a hail of question, yet before he could, I continued in a plainly rueful tone; a blunder I noticed too late "But in all honesty even I am not sure to what scale the abilities of her lineage are able reach."

Repressed memories of loss and grief resurfaced in my mind, as I remembered the days before I forever lost her; a brief few weeks before she would've been able to ascend to the fourth gate, a jeering fact orchestrated by the Gods themselves, one that mocked me relentlessly since that day, for if only she had delayed her trip by a short while, she would've been fully capable of saving herself from Nicholas' clutches that day, when he cornered her using his fourth gate strength, forcing my precious Eve into an impossible choice; capture and humiliation, or death.

A decision I despised that pest Nicholas for making her choose, as her pride refused to allow her to become our enemy's hostage and face untold degradation, and worse yet become a burden to me, thus forcing her to accept an irreversible resolution, one that rid the world of all remaining worth in my eyes.

'Ironic isn't it?' I depressingly thought 'That the daughter of night, secrets and shadows, became the final shred of light and colour in my black world, whose loss finally drove away the final shreds of sanity and humanity from within me, as I punished the whole world for my loss, endeavouring to plunge it into the same abyssal gorge of misery and hate I had lost myself in.'

I then chased off the haunting memories, and decided to refocus on the present, where those regrets of the past could no longer haunt me, yet when I refocused on those before me, I saw them all now staring at me with worried eyes, inviting an awkward air to settle over us, immediately urging me to race to erase said mood, saying "Either way, let's wait a while before I explain anything more."

"My emperor..." Darius wanted to implore me to continue, fearing my unusually saddened tone meant a grave danger or threat I did not inform him of, which only intensified when he thought that I would do as usual, and not give him the complete answers to his many pressing questions, but I interrupted him saying.

"I will divulge everything you need to know Darius, but just wait a moment for Horus and Isaac to arrive. I'd rather not have to repeat myself."

Those words, though not exactly what the Grand Vizier wanted to hear, seemed to prove enough for the moment, as he nodded his head in reply, and waited silently for the other two to arrive, which occurred less than a minute later.

Yet the instant they entered, my eyes on instinct snapped to their feet, which inexplicably brought a barely perceptible smile to my face, before I then refocused my gaze to their stoic faces.

After which we quickly caught the two back up on what I had earlier said, before I continued "As I've already stated, Eve is this generation's chosen descendant of the Night Goddess' sacred blood, making her the rightful heir to her father's, Ciarán's, vast and incredibly influential empire."

"Empire?" Nizam said in intrigue, catching the most important word of my speech, as he in particular perked up when he heard my words, since the only four nations in this world who hold the title of empire are all so well known, that even toddlers could recite their names, yet here I just claimed that she was essentially an imperial princess of her own.

"Do you mean to say sire, that her father controls one of the great powers from the shadows?" Horus reasoned in astonishment, utterly flabbergasted by my insinuation.

But before I could reply, Isaac instantly shot his ludicrous idea down, proclaiming with utter conviction and confidence "Impossible. The four great empires could never be so easily manipulated, even with an incompetent ruler at the helm; their foundations are too thick, and their roots too long."

He his last few words were spoken as a man all too experienced in what he said, and now stood desolate after failing to achieve that herculean task.

"Isaac is correct." Darius also affirmed, saying "Instead, I believe a more realistic option is her ladyship's family lording over a scant few scattered realms from behind the scenes using a variety of methods to both remain in power and evade detection. A fascinatingly firm and excruciatingly elaborate thing to accomplish and maintain after possibly centuries on end without even a single slip up, which could have jeopardized their entire scheme."

His words quickly rung true in everyone's minds, believing him completely as it made a great deal of sense to them at that moment, while serving to explain why I had been so adamant on finding her, as a power capable of such a meticulous thing were indeed more than simply worthy of allying with; yet I merely grinned at them, before uttering a string of words that left them all gawk eyed.

"You all still both mistake and underestimate her background." I lightly said with a small smile, as I took a casual cursory glance at the left hand corner of the room, before continuing "The descendants of the Goddess of the Night do not rule over a traditional land of borders, cities and people; but upon a nation of shadows, secrets and poisoned knives. A veiled nation, whose boundaries are in a constant state of flux, ebbing and flowing with the light of the authority's lawful glare; hiding in the dingy alleyways, repugnant slums and extravagant red light districts of every city in the world; manned by their people who are not farmers, merchants, artisans and soldiers, but crooks, smugglers, informants and assassins; who all unknowingly serve below an unseen throne of an unknown king."

My words utterly stunned the gathered few, as they all stared at me in complete disbelief, none more so than Isaac himself, who once believed himself to have uncovered all the secrets of the criminal underworld, yet here I was now, saying that he had somehow missed the existence of it's king and ruling family, who've supposedly reigned over all the shady dealings of the world for untold millennia now?!

He just couldn't believe it!

But then, as if a lever had suddenly been lifted in Cyrus' brain, he looked to me and asked "But how does that explain what you said earlier brother? About her inability to use her sense of sight?"

Smiling at his clear care for her, despite her not yet officially joining our family, I patiently began by saying "Tell me Cyrus, do you still remember what I taught you of the trials of us demi-Gods?"

"Of course!" He proudly affirmed. "The trials are a set of tests ordained by the Gods to determine whether their descendants are worthy to claim and utilize ever greater power, but every God's trial is different, depending on the siring deity, but the only thing that remains the same across all divine lineages is the number of the gates, which is nine, and their increasing difficulty, which also spike on the same gates, which are the fifth and seventh gates, who are commonly called as the Great Barrier and the Arch of Ascension, respectively."

We all stared in awe at him for a moment, before Nizam sighingly said as he massaged his throbbing temples "If only you memorized all your lessons this way as well, little brother."

"Shut up!" Cyrus retorted with a sidelong glare and an indignant huff, which elicited a short burst of chuckles from us, before I then continued.

"You are exactly right Cyrus, while I have to endure the infernal torture of Hellfire and baleful miasma, or Valdour's struggle to both weather the pain of his ever empowering Crucible Flames and the harrowing, mind numbing experience of the repetitiveness of creating and item after item to meet the expectations of his revered ancestor, the God of the Forge; Eve in turn, a descendant of the Goddess of the Night, must surrender her senses to the maw of the endless night."

My words brought a pause to all of us, as I again glanced from the edge of my eye to the shadow cloaked corner of the room, before Nizam suddenly asked with a jump in his tone "Wait, senses?! As in she will lose more of her senses in time?!"

His words jolted the rest, as they had all simply glossed past that section of my phrase, focusing on the more shocking aspects of it, until they heard my brother's cry, making them all turn to me in search of an answer.

Which I provided, as I fully turned my head to focus upon that same dark corner with the most serene stare my mad filled globes could muster "Yes, she will eventually forfeit all her senses with each gate she decides to unlock. With the first, which she is currently at right now, stealing her gift of sight, while the second will snatch her blessing of taste, before the third loots her sense of smell, followed by the fourth reaping her hearing, and finally the fifth ridding her of her final connection to the mundane world, by swallowing her ability to feel, thus imprisoning her in an abyssal cocoon where there is nothing but her and the cold, deafening silence of unfettered darkness."

My words again stunned them, as they all felt a chill run up their spines from simply imagining having to live such a withering life, forced to wilt away, losing a part of yourself with each passing day until you are no more than a breathing accessory, pathetically attached to the furniture.

They all simultaneously agreed right then, that they would rather not have whatever powers awarded to them by their God blood than face such a depressing trial to begin with.

"Will she be like that forever if she chooses to unlock her gates?" Cyrus slowly asked, his tone awash with pity and sadness.

"Of course not." I lightly asked, my eyes still peering into that corner but now lit with the fire of resolution fuelled by my madness within them.

"What?!" They all almost exclaimed out loud.

"I said it before didn't I? She has lost her sense of sight 'temporarily'. And the same holds true for all her other senses as well." I calmly explained, my gaze unflinching.

"How?" Darius instantly asked, his eyes also beginning to subtly drift in the same direction as mine.

"Each gate she unlocks up to the fifth will claim another one of her senses, but the sixth will return them all to her without worry, so she would need to breech her sixth gate, and all will be well. Am I right?"